Today I visited Hearst Castle and photographed several coast live oaks that have been under treatment with fire mimicry practices for four years. Some results from last year can be seen here. Below are the photos I took today showing changes in both treated and untreated oaks after four years. Be sure to examine the last two sets of photos which show results from some untreated oaks. Enjoy!
The above oak has some sort of stem canker infection with symptoms similar to Sudden Oak Death. The infection was present before the treatments began. After four years the bleeding has slowed and the canopy is clearly healthier.
In the photo set above the coast live oak in the foreground is the only oak at Hearst Castle that did not respond to the fire mimicry treatments. This oak was extremely ill at the time of the initial treatment. It finally died last year and was removed.
Sudden Oak Life 
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